PSYCHOLOGY EXTENDED ESSAY 20122013 John Crane 403 412

PSYCHOLOGY EXTENDED ESSAY 2012/2013 John Crane – 403 412

THE BASICS The extended essay is a report of research that has already been conducted and theories that have been formulated and published by psychology researchers. You are NOT conducting ANY primary researchyou are doing LITERATURE REVIEW of someone else’s primary research.

IT MUST BE………. . An ANAYTICAL not a DESCRIPTIVE essay. This means you must find different viewpoints in the literature regarding the answer to your question

THE ESSAY IN A NUTSHELL 4000 words. Introduction - a clear statement of your research question. - identification of the area of psychology that your question relates to. - the basic principles and background to that field of psychology, which is relevant to your question - a motivation regarding your choice of the topic. - a justification of why your topic is important to psychology. - a sign post of how you plan to report your findings in the body. - a thesis statement in response to your question

BODY…. . In the body you ‘debate’ your question based on the different answers you have found to it. Of course you need to have an opinion about these people’s answers so in the body you EVALUATE the literature reveals about your question.

BEING CRITICAL Lousy, outdated, flawed, biased studies can be discussed but also discounted. Different viewpoints must be clearly and logically discussed and culminate in some kind of conclusion after being evaluated Use the MCEG framework

EVALUATION IN PSYCHOLOGY MCEG Gender Equal no of M &F participants? Can results be Generalised? Methodology Controls? – Variables? Reliability? Validity? Ecological validity? Culture From what culture are the PPs? Is it generalisable? Ethics Are PPs protected from psychological and physical harm? APA Ethical Guidelines followed?

CONCLUSION The conclusion is informed largely by the points of evaluation Restate main points of argument. Restate main points of analysis. Revisit your thesis statement with a definite conclusion. So…. from the discussion presented it can be concluded that.

APA STYLE Formal tone Psychological terminology Academic writing Don’t use personal pronouns Everything should be properly referenced http: //owl. english. purdue. edu/owl/resource/560/01/ http: //writing. colostate. edu/guides/researchsources/ documentation/apa/

FINDING YOUR SOURCES… Step one is to find information which has been published about your topic. Not only do you need to find it but you need to ‘appraise’ it- is it a reliable source or not? Use Google Scholar for research!

LET’S LOOK AT THE TIMELINE…

USEFUL READING/LINKS IB Psychology Course Companion – Crane & Hannibal AS & A Level Psychology – Oxford Revision Guide Levels of Analysis in Psychology –Jamison ibpsychism. wetpaint. com